The field of the present invention is weight-training equipment.
Weight-training equipment, particularly equipment utilizing free-moving weights unconnected to a machine structure, must be adjustable for users of differing heights. For instance, a bench-press free-weight machine involving a barbell which exercises the chest muscles must have a resting height which is adjustable for users having arms of differing lengths. Similarly, a squat machine utilizing a barbell which is placed behind a user's head must have a resting height which is adjustable for users having differing heights.
Typical of methods used in the art to solve the problem of adjustable resting heights of the machines are to be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,201,380 and 4,302,009. In '380 the upright standards used to support a barbell have cut-outs spaced throughout the working height of the standards. At rest, the barbell may be placed in the appropriate cut-out. Similarly, '009 discloses a method of height adjustability whereby the standards contain short metal plates welded to each standard and spaced along its length to support the barbell. Each method, however, possesses a major drawback. In '380, the user or assistant must guide the weight into a supporting cut-out in the standard at the end of the exercise. This action requires a degree of strength and dexterity not always possessed by a user at the end of an exercise. In '009, the projections from the standards above and below the selected projection tend to interfere with the movement of the exercise. Thus, there is a need in the art for an adjustable-height support for weight-training machines in which there is no interference with the range of motion of the user in any particular exercise and which still possesses the capability of catching a falling weight at the end of the exercise.